Let’s Make Orange Pomanders!

I can cook. I mean… I can really cook. I can walk around in a pair of heels without looking like a weirdo…. and I know how to apply lip liner if the occasion requires.

I am not, however, a domestic goddess. Not at all. Nope.

I’m not one of those ladies who has Christmas ornaments in the basement. I don’t have a shelving system dedicated to wrapping paper and corresponding ribbons. I don’t even know what a holiday wreath is. Stockings by the fire? Shut it. Yule logs burning? What are you even talking about? Beautifully decorated Christmas tree? No… I just.. I just… I don’t have that.

It’s cool. I can’t be everything. I don’t even want to be everything. You know what I do want to be…? I want to be like Nigella Lawson covered in caramel… because then Christmas trees don’t really matter at all.

Oh, and just to be safe… I’ll put a mini Santa hat on my cat and call it a day.

My house smells like Orange Pomanders… I gotta go. The caramel is boiling.

If you’re a spazzzzz like me… here’s a little lesson on properly securing the ribbon.

I made these, and like another poster I covered my oranges completely. After that I rolled it around in cinnamon then set it in a pretty glass bowl. It lasted forever and smelled so good my 18 year old son wanted one for his room!

Am I the only one who doesn’t get what these are for? Potpourri? Seems like a waste. Do you eat them? I remember doing apples with cloves when I was a kid and drying them, but I think they were for eating? Clove-flavored withered apples? Umm…Mmm?

Potpourri, really. They last forever, so it’s not really a waste. The apple thing is exactly what this is, but they’re not for eating. They dry out if left in a cool, dry place in your house but continue to smell awesome for weeks and weeks.

I was and am a huge fan of the Little House books and was inspired this year to try and make a clove apple, then a clove tangerine – my apartment smells wonderful when I walk in – the spicy, sweet smell is not overpowering and sickening like most commercial air fresheners are to me.

Oh. My. Goodness!! Joy, you just brought me back big time to sitting in Brownies (the younger Girl Scouts, not the food – haha, just thought I’d clarify since we are food bloggers) poking those cloves into the oranges!! And we didn’t just do a few cloves, either. Unh-uh. We covered the whole thing in cloves. Dang, did my thumb hurt!!!
It smelled absolutely wonderful though and my mother loved her Christmas present from a 7 year old with a raw, red thumb.